Tongue Tie?

ball.and.chain · August 2014

B and I met with an LC this morning and she thinks he has a bit of a tongue tie...not so bad that he can't nurse, but it is probably responsible for a not-great latch, which is causing me pain and causing him to get less milk, consequently decreasing my supply. Our options seem to be 1) have his frenulum snipped, 2) nurse with pain all the time, or 3) switch to formula (or maybe 4) pump exclusively?). I am not 100% sure what I think right now but my wife is NOT feeling good about snipping him. Do any of you have any experience with tongue ties?

voplo · August 2014

Same problem in here. I juggle by now breastfeeding (with a lot of pain) and pumping. I feel like your wife, if it is not too bad I prefer to avoid it. I talked to a bf consultant and she said it would get better with time and babies are smart and find their ways. Well, I hope so because my nipples look like ground beef at the moment....

LunaBug924 · August 2014

DD was diagnosed with a lip and tongue tie at 5 weeks old. We decided to have it corrected and I'm so glad we did. We found a pediatric dentist who uses a laser. It took all of 5 minutes and I nursed her immediately after. Her latch and overall mood has improved dramatically as she now isn't sucking in so much air when she nurses. The worst part were the stretches we had to do for 10 days afterwards so the skin did not reattach.

I don't know how old your LO is and I'm not sure how/if the procedure is different for older babies, but I think it's worth looking into if you want to have a long-term and comfortable breastfeeding relationship. Good luck with whatever you decide.

voplo · August 2014

LunaBug924 said:

DD was diagnosed with a lip and tongue tie at 5 weeks old. We decided to have it corrected and I'm so glad we did. We found a pediatric dentist who uses a laser. It took all of 5 minutes and I nursed her immediately after. Her latch and overall mood has improved dramatically as she now isn't sucking in so much air when she nurses. The worst part were the stretches we had to do for 10 days afterwards so the skin did not reattach. I don't know how old your LO is and I'm not sure how/if the procedure is different for older babies, but I think it's worth looking into if you want to have a long-term and comfortable breastfeeding relationship. Good luck with whatever you decide.

That is really interesting. I am still working with my bf consultant, but if it doesntt improve we''ll definitely look at this option.

ball.and.chain · August 2014

voplo said:

Same problem in here. I juggle by now breastfeeding (with a lot of pain) and pumping. I feel like your wife, if it is not too bad I prefer to avoid it. I talked to a bf consultant and she said it would get better with time and babies are smart and find their ways. Well, I hope so because my nipples look like ground beef at the moment....

OK mine don't look like ground beef so perhaps B's isn't as bad! Actually I have sort of the opposite where they turn white...LC said it's called vasospasm and can be caused by tongue tie (among other things). B is 5w and I would say if anything it's gotten worse. The pain is about the same; I somewhat got used to it but it's still not fun. But he has gotten less efficient as a nurser and doesn't drain the breast anymore, which is causing my supply to decrease, which is causing me to supplement with formula, which makes my supply decrease...etc. I hope yours does get better or you find a solution!

ball.and.chain · August 2014

LunaBug924 said:

DD was diagnosed with a lip and tongue tie at 5 weeks old. We decided to have it corrected and I'm so glad we did. We found a pediatric dentist who uses a laser. It took all of 5 minutes and I nursed her immediately after. Her latch and overall mood has improved dramatically as she now isn't sucking in so much air when she nurses. The worst part were the stretches we had to do for 10 days afterwards so the skin did not reattach. I don't know how old your LO is and I'm not sure how/if the procedure is different for older babies, but I think it's worth looking into if you want to have a long-term and comfortable breastfeeding relationship. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Thank you, this is exactly what the LC described. She recommended a local dentist who does a good job (also with a laser, which I have to say sounds less traumatic than surgical scissors for some reason). Good to hear! He is 5w so about the same age as yours when it was done.

BootsOrHearts · August 2014

We had the same problem, at least, the tongue tie is one theory about why his latch was shit. We had it corrected but not until he was almost 3 months old and it didn't help but possibly it's because we waited too long. So here I am still EPing. :-/ It sucks (pun intended) but he get his milk.

We also had the laser surgery done by a pediatric dentist and yeah I could tell it hurt him but after 15 minutes or so he calmed down and went to sleep and he was fine after that. The stretches sucked but it only take a few seconds to do it. I don't regret that we at least tried that route. The dentist said it probably would have had to be done at some point, if nothing else if he ever needed braces it would have had to have been done then.

Good luck whatever you choose and let us know what happens!

Oh also - these are critical if you don't already have them

(Nipple protectors a.k.a. 'nipple jail')

[Deleted User] · August 2014

I don't have personal experience with my own kids, but my nephew was born with a tongue tie. My sister didn't want to clip it as a newborn and he ended up being FF anyway, but later on it did affect his speech and she ended up having it clipped when he had his tonsils and adenoids out at age 4. My DH has a tongue tie that bothers him to this day so for us that would be a factor in our decision if any of our LOs has a tongue tie. He doesn't have a noticeable speech impediment but I know he lacks confidence when reading aloud and stuff.

I definitely would not opt to breastfeed with pain all the time.

It shouldn't hurt at all after the first few weeks of adjustment (at least until they're old enough to bite you while teething, oof) so if you're wanting to keep nursing, I would have it clipped. I do think it's easier to do as a newborn than later on. But I would also get a 2nd opinion before making the decision, especially since your wife isn't on board yet. It would probably really come down to how you feel about continuing the nursing relationship or if you're okay with EPing/formula.

ball.and.chain · August 2014

Thanks for weighing in, @BootsorHearts and @LeaLupins! Very helpful to hear your stories. We have been talking a lot about it and I think my wife is coming around to at least seeing why it might be a good idea, but we haven't made any decisions yet. Will probably at least talk to our pedi and perhaps see an ENT and or pedi dentist to have them evaluate it.

Serenla · August 2014

DS has a slight tongue-tie and it made early BFing difficult. I opted to not get it clipped because it also made me uncomfortable. He was not gaining weight well but we supplemented with pumped BM and also did the following.

I worked with the LLL leader in my area and she had me move Finn about until we found a good nursing position. Once we found that one (football hold) and he got pretty good at nursing that way we switched him to other positions, it's working great now.

ball.and.chain · August 2014

Thanks @Serenla!

voplo · August 2014

I am going to the breast-feeding clinic today. Wish me luck! I really really don't want to get her tongue clipped! I have been using the nipple shield and it is a bit better. I'll let you know if they talk about other options :P

Amores0121 · August 2014

I see that I am a bit late to this post but I wanted to chime in as I did choose to get my son's tongue clipped. The LCs at the hospital kept telling me he had a great latch, but it was still pinching me. The dr. At the hospital told me he was tongue-tied. After consulting with the LC we made the decision to clip his tongue. The dr.From the hospital did it. I put him to the breast immediately and he was fine a minute later. He was 2 days old. The damage had already been done to my nipples, I nursed with cracked bloody nipples for a week and then they healed. I don't regret it at all.

2redtulips · September 2014

Bumping this thread because R. also has tongue-tie, and we're deciding whether or not to have it snipped.

In our case, we're FF, so that's not the issue (except that I suspect he inhales more air while feeding), but I worry about other issues later in life. Dumb things like not being able to lick an ice cream cone to more serious things like speech.

@LeaLupins , I'd love to know your DH's take on it. Could he play an instrument, if he wanted? Can he French kiss? It seems like it could be a potential quality of life issue as an adult, but I haven't been able to find anything definitive.

[Deleted User] · September 2014

2redtulips said:

Could he play an instrument, if he wanted? Can he French kiss? It seems like it could be a potential quality of life issue as an adult, but I haven't been able to find anything definitive.

He never played an instrument but I don't think his tongue tie would have stopped him. He can still French kiss

I don't personally think it affects his speech but he is self-conscious about it. My nephew's tongue tie was more severe and you could definitely see a difference in his speech after he had it clipped at age 4. I don't think DH's is as bad as he thinks it is, but for whatever reason, he at times feel insecure about it when he has to read aloud or something.

2redtulips · September 2014

I thought my phone had eaten my post. So glad to see it didn't!

Thanks for the reply, @LeaLupins. Our pediatrician referred us to a pediatric dentist, so I think we'll at least have him check it to see how severe it is.

ball.and.chain · September 2014

Finally have a chance to get online for more than a few minutes and wanted to update. I talked to my OB about this at my 6w follow up, and she was a bit dismissive of the tongue tie idea. She told me that lactation consultants are diagnosing a lot of tongue ties these days. That made me pause a bit, and then we went away to visit ILs and I put everything on hold. In the meantime, B started getting worse about bfing. He would start crying and screaming in the middle of a feed. At first I could reposition and get him to re-latch, but eventually he was screaming after 5 minutes of nursing and could not be re-latched. No screaming during a bottle feed so I knew it wasn't gas. My nipple pain never subsided and actually got so bad on one side that I had to take deep breaths to make it through the latch. At his 2m pedi appointment, he had dropped down from 3rd to 2nd percentile in weight and from 18th to 10th percentile in height. Pedi wasn't concerned, but I was. He was already so small and although he was gaining, it felt like he wasn't gaining fast enough. I didn't want to wait until his pedi WAS concerned to do something. I knew he would take 4 oz of formula from a bottle but was only getting about 2.5 oz of bm from a (long) nursing session, so I was pretty sure he'd grow more if we switched to formula, and I'd already been toying with the idea because of the bfing issues. I knew my wife wanted me to switch (for my quality of life). We hadn't been to an ENT or dentist yet to have him evaluated, but the pedi checked his mouth and said that she didn't think it was causing his issues. At that point I was just DONE. I didn't feel like trouble shooting the situation anymore, and I decided right in her office that he had nursed his last boob.

Honestly, it has been great. My nipples are like new! Feeding him is much less stressful and my wife can pitch in more when she's home. He was 9.5 lbs at his pedi appointment and was already over 10 lbs a week later. He's also happier. I pump twice a day (which is about as much as I can manage being home alone with him) and give him what I pump, which ends up being about 4 oz of bm a day. The rest is formula.

@2redtulips, I am not an expert on this but my impression is that a tongue tie has to be pretty severe to cause issues with speech, kissing, licking etc. I think I read somewhere when I was researching that the frenulum is always tighter in babies than in adults -- it naturally loosens over time -- so it might only cause bfing issues (because it hasn't loosened yet when they start bfing) but be fine by the time speech is an issue. Of course it can never hurt to have his tongue evaluated, but it doesn't sound like a frenectomy is necessary in your situation. Since it isn't causing issues right now, it's probably enough to just have his pedi look at it.

2redtulips · September 2014

I can almost hear the relief in your post. I am so glad things are easier on both you and your LO now! Good for you for making that call.

As for us, we had R.'s one-month appt with the pediatrician today, and we saw the other doc in the practice. He said he doesn't think it's severe at all in R.'s case. We might still visit the dentist just for another opinion, but I am more inclined to let it be for now as well.

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